Newark City Hospital, as it appeared in a postcard circa 1930, initially opened in 1898. It was replaced with a new 17-story building on an adjacent site in 1958 and renamed as the Harrison S. Martland Medical Center in honor of the long-time City pathologist.

​Hospitals are evaluated for quality and performance by several government, nonprofit and for-profit sources which publish periodic ratings and reviews. The criteria selected for the ratings, however, vary widely and there is no single consensus provider of information to evaluate hospital performance. Some of the measures used by the agencies and publishers reviewing hospitals include the nature and scope of their facilities, equipment and services; performance in safety procedures; consistency in treatment; morbidity, failure and re-admission rates in treating specific conditions; and surveys of patients assessing their experience with the facility, its doctors, nurses and other health personnel.

The Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1951 as The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, accredits and certifies nearly 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the US. Accreditation and certification by the Joint Commission is obtained through meeting certain performance standards, with inspections of major facilities conducted at least once every three years.​ Other sources of hospital information include the American Hospital Association, which sells theAHA Guide, a comprehensive directory of 6,500 US hospitals with healthcare and financial information and data compiled from its annual survey of hospitals. A for-profit data firm publishes another print and online directory, American Hospital Directory® with profiles of over 7,000 US hospitals, with some information available for free online such as Medicare claims data, discharge statistics, hospital cost and other financial reports. The New Jersey Hospital Association, the largest trade association of the state's hospitals, publishes various reports, with its most recent Economic Impact Report (published 2015 based on 2014 data) stating that its member hospitals in 2014 made $21.6 billion in total expenditures; spent $2.9 billion in purchased services; employed over 141,000 in full- and part-time positions; and paid $8.4 billion in total employee salaries.

Below are summaries of selected sources of rating and evaluation information for acute care hospitals in New Jersey.​

​​Nonprofit established in 2000 by major corporations, health insurers and others to aid their sponsors and public in selecting hospitals and other health facilities. Data voluntarily provided by nearly half of all US hospitals through annual survey, includes factors such hospital's C-section rate, safety protocols and re-admission rates. Also assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety based on data from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. In cases where hospitals decline to voluntarily submit information (e.g the two Atlanticare hospitals in Atlantic City and Pomona; East Orange General Hospital, and St. Luke's-Warren campus in Phillipsburg), they are evaluated on available public data. Leapfrog's most recent survey released in April 2017 ranked New Jersey hospitals overall among the 50 states as 15th best in safety based on the number of hospitals that earned the highest grade of 'A', an improvement from its 22nd rating in the prior year survey. Of the 68 hospitals evaluated by Leapfrog, 27 earned an 'A', 20 a 'B', and only three a 'D' (Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Salem; Saint Michael's Medical Center in Newark; and University Hospital in Newark)..​

​​Leading online publisher of information grading hospitals and physicians, publishes annual America’s 50 and 100 Best Hospitals™ and other designations in such categories as Clinical Excellence; Women's Health etc. Its 2017 national report listed Morristown Medical Centeramong 50 Best Hospitals and Overlook Medical Center in Summit among 100 Best Hospitals. Both hospitals, along with the two hospitals of AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic County, also were named in January 2017 as recipients of the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™. Selections are based on assessment of superior clinical outcomes across the majority of common inpatient conditions such as heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke which are sustained for at least three consecutive years adjusted for each patient’s risk factors, such as age, gender and medical condition. The analysis is based on more than 45 million Medicare claims records for the most recent three-year time period available from nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide. Evaluations also include percentage of discharged patients who would recommend hospital.​

Publishes annual rankings of adult and children's hospitals covering 16 clinical specialties, procedures and medical conditions. Scores based on data such as survival, patient safety, nurse staffing and other factors. Specialties include cardiac care, cancer urology, gynecology and others based on common procedures and conditions such as heart bypass surgery, hip and knee replacement and colon cancer surgery. Hospitals also ranked regionally within states and major metro areas. Honor Roll recognizes top 20 US hospitals with outstanding performance across multiple areas of care, led by 1) Mayo Clinic; 2) Cleveland Clinic; 3) Massachusetts General Hospital; 4) Johns Hopkins Hospital; and 5) UCLA Medical Center. 50 Top US Hospitals list includes Hackensack University Hospital; 100 Top US Hospitals list includes ​

In 2015, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services introduced a hospital rating program, with overall scores ranging up to five stars for the best performance. The evaluations assess quality of care on up to 57 measures reflecting common conditions such as heart attacks or pneumonia, aspects of quality such as rates of infection and complications at over 2,200 Medicare-certified hospitals with at least 100 beds in US. Reports also provide results of patient surveys on factors such as communication of nurses and doctors with patients; responsiveness of hospital staff to patient needs; cleanliness of hospital environments; and preparation of patients for discharge and post-hospital settings. In the most recent report based on patients discharged between April 2015 and March 2016, no New Jersey hospital received a five-star designation of the 102 US hospitals so designated; those awarded four stars were Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, Morristown Medical Center, CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, Ocean Medical Center in Brick and Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch.​ The Hospital Compare rating system has been criticized for using criteria which penalize urban and teaching hospitals, which typically treat high proportions of patients with the most difficult conditions and also have other underlying health factors affecting treatment outcomes, as well as giving excessive weight to small hospitals with 100 beds or less and over-emphasizing patient perceptions as a measure of quality of care.​

In addition to inspecting and licensing hospitals and other health care facilities in the state, the New Jersey Department of Health publishes reports and data on aspects of the health care system. Its Office of Health Care Quality Assessment publishes a Hospital Performance Report (sometimes referred to as the Hospital Report Card), with the most recent issued in 2016 based on 2014 data. Among other information, the Report publishes comparative statiistics on cardiac surgery mortality; treatment of pneumonia, acute stroke and other conditions; and patient safety indicators such as the rates of infections. An online version of the printed Report allows users to select individual hospitals for comparison on specific measures. The Department of Health also publishes an online Services Profile summarizing hospital information and statistics for each facility on licensure dates; number of beds, operating rooms, special equipment (e.g. magnetic resonance imaging, linear accelerators, hyperbaric chambers) and state designations as centers for treatment of trauma, strokes, perinatal and other conditions.

Information service of data and publishing firm Quantros, Inc. provides clinical, financial, and patient satisfaction findings to consumers, providers, and purchasers of medical care, including composite evaluation of all components of medical quality including process of care, outcomes of care, and patient experiences.​

A subsidiary of the American Nurses Association, sponsors its Magnet Recognition Program® promoting excellence in nursing programs and patient care. As of 2017, 21 New Jersey hospitals had received Magnet recognition for the quality of their nursing and patient care programs.​​

Commemorative stamp issued in 1976 honoring Clara Maass, head nurse at the Newark German Hospital who later served as a contract nurse with the US Army during the Spanish-American War. She died after contracting Yellow Fever in Cuba on August 24, 1901, after volunteering to be bitten by mosquitoes during experiments to develop a vaccine against the virus. In 1952, Newark German Hospital (which had since moved to Belleville) was renamed Clara Maass Memorial Hospital, and it is now known as Clara Maass Medical Center. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Special services/designations:First opened 1882 as City Hospital, later Martland Medical Center named after long-time pathologist for City of Newark, formerly teaching hospital of University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ, restructured under legislation effective 2013 as principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences; only hospital in northern NJ and one of only two in state certified in Advanced Heart Failure Care by Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation; Level I trauma center; hosts Rutgers Cancer Institute of NJ, one of nation's 47 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers; comprehensive stroke center; regional perinatal center; transplantation services; acute hemodialoysis service; linear accelerators

Special services/designations:Established by Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1867.Acquired out of bankruptcy 2015 for $62.2 million by CA-based Prime Healthcare, for-profit operator of some 50 hospitals in US, including NJ's St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic and St. Clare's three hospitals in Morris County. Teaching affiliate of NY Medical College, residencies in anesthesia, internal medicine and podiatry. Acute hemodialoysis service; linear accelerators; robotic surgery; centers in heart and vascular, breast, cancer, liver, diabetes management

Special services/designations: Received NJ Department of Health approval March 2017 to replace current acute care hospital with new facility to be built in Mullica Township adjacent to Rowan University campus, current Woodbury hospital to be converted to outpatient and behavioral care when new hospital completed 2019; Inspira Health Network formed 2012 through merger of South Jersey Healthcare and Underwood-Memorial Hospital, locations also in Elmer and Vineland; Community perinatal center-intermediate; primary stroke center; acute hemodialoysis service hyperbaric chamber; sleep medicine; wound care

Special services/designations: Formerly independent University Medical Center at Princeton, changed name upon January 2018 completion of agreement to become part of University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine), which comprises five hospitals in Pennsylvania, including Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center), as well as primary and specialty physician networks and outpatient facilities, home and hospice services> 2017-18 US News & World Report ranked Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian among top 10 hospitals in US and #1 hospital in Philadelphia> University Medical Center at Princeton designated as a primary stroke center; community perinatal center; acute hemodialysis service; linear accelerators